Case is about a desperate TV station drumming up media coverage: WPP

“This case is nothing more than a desperate attempt by the plaintiff, a television station in New Delhi, India, to drum up media coverage in India to divert attention from the real reasons its programs have had low audience ratings and its financial performance has been abysmal for five years. New Delhi TV has crossed the globe and come to New York State Supreme Court to complain about an Indian company, TAM, and how it measures the ratings of television programs in India. New Delhi TV has filed its completely baseless and misdirected claims in a 193-page Complaint, containing 654 paragraphs and 42 causes of action against 32 irrelevant parties, including the Moving Defendants," D&G on behalf of WPP companies listed by NDTV, said in the "Memorandum of Law in support of Moving Defendants motion to dismiss the complaint in entirety as against them."

The ripped up Wholefoods bag which contained the summonses. Image courtesy Exhibit submitted by Nielsen Holdings.

The highlights of the filing by D&G on behalf of WPP companies are as follows:

• The complaint must be dismissed for insufficient service, as NDTV’s attempted service was improper and insufficient. • The NY court lacks personal jurisdiction over Kantar India, as Kantar India neither maintains an office in New York nor does business in New York. • The moving defendants ask for the complaint to be dismissed on grounds of ‘forum non conveniens’ (this doctrine is employed when the court chosen by the plaintiff (the party suing) is inconvenient for witnesses or poses an undue hardship on the defendants, who must petition the court for an order transferring the case to a more convenient court), as NDTV nor the ‘moving defendants are residents of New York, that the ‘situs’ (location) of the transaction points to India as the only appropriate forum.

This is the first step — to get the New York Supreme Court to throw out the NDTV case based on improper and insufficient service and the choice of New York as an inconvenient forum for the complaint to be heard.